As the use of computers has grown over the years, especially in business, there has been a growing need to develop computer systems which allow a number of individual computer users to communicate via their computers, and have access to common repositories of data. One solution had been to have all users within an organization connect to a single large main frame computer employing terminals with minimal processing capabilities. Another solution has been the development of server technology which allows a number of individual computer to connect to a central computer, i.e. server, which includes operating systems for a number of core functions for the network such as e-mail, common data bases, as well as a number of functions which are commonly employed by these computers connected to the network.
One advantage of employing server technology is that connections may be established to the server through a number of different modes. A first mode is a direct connection, such as through a local area network (LAN) The second type of connection may be made via a phone line from a remotely located computer. A connection may be established using the public switch telephone network (PSTN) with the server especially adapted to provide a telephonic connection. A third mode is a connection established to the server made over the Internet. With a connection established in this manner, system users browsing the web may access information stored on the server.
With these different modes to establish connections, it may be important to protect the information stored on a server from unauthorized access. Certain protections already exist such as requiring passwords when logging onto the server and restricting access to particular types of information only to designated parties.